‘Novocaine’ is About a Guy Who Can’t Feel Pain, But You’ll Probably Feel Plenty of Pleasure While Watching It

March 12, 2025

jmunney Uncategorized , , , , , , , , , 1 Comment

Jack Quaid as Mr. Novocaine (CREDIT: Paramount Pictures)

Starring: Jack Quaid, Amber Midthunder, Ray Nicholson, Jacob Batalon, Betty Gabriel, Matt Walsh

Directors: Dan Berk and Robert Olsen

Running Time: 110 Minutes

Rating: R for Grave Bodily Injuries

Release Date: March 14, 2025 (Theaters)

What’s It About?: San Diego resident Nathan Caine (Jack Quaid) spends his days working his sensible job as a bank executive and his evenings at home playing video games. He’s never really allowed himself to aspire to much more than that, which makes sense when you consider that he has congenital insensitivity to pain (CIP). After all, if he eats solid food, he might accidentally bite his tongue off and not even realize it. So better to opt for the most vanilla life possible and not risk any danger that his body won’t be able to warn him about. But then one day, he goes on a date with his new co-worker Sherry (Amber Midthunder), and she scrambles his brain so much that he starts to think it might actually be worth taking a risk here and there. So much so that when she’s taken hostage by bank robbers the very next day, Nathan decides to turn into an avenging superhero to set her free.

What Made an Impression?: The Sensitive Man’s Unlikely Action Hero: Jack Quaid is having quite the starmaking moment. He’s been banging around in big ensembles like Oppenheimer and Scream, while also letting loose with frequent guest appearances on the podcast Comedy Bang! Bang! He nailed it as the lead earlier this year in the robots-gone-wrong thriller Companion, and now he’s an even bigger casting coup in Novocaine. If he’s going to play a badass, of course it’s going to be the type of badass who can’t feel anything physically while feeling plenty emotionally. This movie is knowingly over-the-top, capturing the feeling of life-changing love making you do things that you never thought were possible. Nathan is profoundly in over his head, but for a guy who’s been living out under his head his entire life, it’s basically impossible not to cheer on his foolhardiness.
Loyal and Goofy Support: I simply mustn’t ignore the clutch supporting cast surrounding Quaid. First of all, Midthunder nails the hook of adorability (while harboring a secret that prevents her from drifting into manic pixie dream girl territory). Then we’ve got Jacob Batalan as Nathan’s video game buddy Roscoe, the latest in his specialty of preternaturally reliable friends. And finally, there are a couple of detectives on Nathan’s trail in the form of Betty Gabriel and, wait for it … Upright Citizens Brigade co-founder Matt Walsh. It should be a law (if it’s not already) that serious action movies like this must have a comedy legend like Walsh in an essential supporting role. Does this all add up to a movie that’s effective enough to cure CIP among any of its viewers? Not literally. But metaphorically? Definitely.

Novocaine is Recommended If You Like: Die Hard, John Wick, First dates

Grade: 4 out of 5 Gunshot Wounds

‘Smile 2’ Repeats the Hits While Also Going on Hallucinatory Overdrive

October 16, 2024

jmunney Cinema, Movie Reviews , , , , , , , , , , , , 1 Comment

TFW you’re not smiling… (CREDIT: Paramount Pictures)

Starring: Naomi Scott, Rosemarie DeWitt, Lukas Gage, Miles Gutierrez-Riley, Peter Jacobson, Ray Nicholson, Dylan Gelula, Raúl Castillo, Kyle Gallner, and Drew Barrymore as Herself

Director: Parker Finn

Running Time: 127 Minutes

Rating: R for Disturbingly Creative Self-Mutilation, Some White Powder, and a Lot of F-Bombs

Release Date: October 18, 2024 (Theaters)

What’s It About?: The cursed entity from the first Smile is back at it again! Its latest victim is pop star Skye Riley (Naomi Scott), who’s about to embark on a world tour one year after being seriously injured in a car accident that killed a dear friend. She’s mostly recovered, but she still has some gnarly scars and terrible back pain. Alas, nobody will prescribe her anything stronger than over-the-counter painkillers, thanks to her history of substance abuse. So she turns to an old classmate (Lukas Gage) for some Vicodin, but as luck would have it, he’s under the sway of the Smile Demon, and his sudden graphic demise passes it onto her. Soon enough, she’s seeing the creepy upturned lips among her fans, handlers, and most traumatic memories. Her demise feels as inevitable as that of everyone else who’s been infected, although a mysterious stranger might have some ideas about how to break the curse.

What Made an Impression?: Curses Are Gross: When I looked up my take on the original Smile, I recalled how frustrating I found that initial go-round due to the profound inability of the main characters to fight against the evil. With Parker Finn returning as writer and director, the sequel doesn’t do much to deviate from the already well-established formula. Like Sosie Bacon’s overworked therapist in the original, Skye is too psychologically vulnerable to fight back in any meaningful way (although the dynamism of a showbiz career does allow for a little more chaos). But a shot in the arm to mix things up does arrive in the form of Dylan Gelula as Skye’s estranged best friend Gemma. Ever since her breakout performance on Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, she’s been a reliable avatar of disaffected youth, which allows her to convincingly react to the horrors that Skye is going through with lines like, “Ew, oh my god, what?” Sometimes evil just needs to be called out for being lame and disgusting.
Symphony of Blood: Horror movies can be satisfying whether or not the monster is defeated at the end. But it’s hard to remain engaged if evil’s triumph feels inevitable. Smile 2 proposes a solution that could potentially end the Smile Demon, though it also resorts to a series of fakeouts that dash any sense of hope. That’s not exactly a problem, as the hallucinations are consistently tantalizing. On the other hand, at a certain point you can’t help but wonder: is anything that Skye experiences after being possessed real in any way? While it might be nice to have a little more clarity on that point, Finn papers over that concern with a more playful and daring approach than he utilized before, with disorienting upside-down cityscape shots and a bravura final set piece that may not conclude every plot point but does wrap things up emotionally with quite a bit of finesse. He’s an orchestra conductor directing his mayhem with devilishly perfected timing. The final note will leave you screaming, in pain and/or excitement, about the possibility of this story never ending.

Smile 2 is Recommended If You Liked: The First Smile But Thought It Should’ve Been More Like Beyond the Lights

Grade: 3.5 out of 5 Donut Weights